A Customer In Need Of Servicing
by butimbroken
Summary: Buffy/Angel. AU. Buffy's tasked with phone calls to customers about a returned item. It takes an unexpected turn. COMPLETE.


**Alright. They Still Don't Belong To Me. The Work Bench Is A Reference To The Show Reaper. Heh And I Actually Used To Be Employeed By A Market Research Firm That Lowe's Hires To Do These Follow Ups For Them Instead Heh. **

After finishing her lunch, Buffy slowly made her way back to the customer service station. She really wasn't feeling like working today. She was pretty sure that had something to do with she was on survey duty about their latest massive return item. This meant being stuck in one of the small back rooms seated at a desk making phone calls to usually rude people all day long. It wasn't exactly her idea of fun. But someone had to do it, and today, once more, that someone was her.

Buffy wasted as much time as she could chatting it up with her friends and fellow co-workers, Willow and Faith, before they reminded her she really needed to get cracking. Buffy grumbled at them, dramatically letting her head fall down to the hard counter. She rested there for a long moment then smiled at the customer who'd come up behind her and waved her friends goodbye, soon finding herself back in the small office area.  
Buffy sighed, taking her seat. She moved the mouse gently making the screensaver dissappear and the screen asking for her log in information. With another sigh, Buffy typed it in and then entered the correct code she'd been using for this particular assignment. She read over the screen she was unhappily familiar with as she pulled her hair into a messy ponytail, then with one hand she reached for the phone and the other tapped at the correct keys to get the dialing system started.

OoOoO

Three calls in, Buffy was already feeling annoyed. A jealous wife wasn't about to help anything either.

"Who may I ask is calling?" the woman asked after saying her husband wasn't home at the time.

Buffy rolled her eyes at her tone. 'This is going to be a long one,' she thought. "My name is Buffy Summers," she spoke, trying to sound as chipper and friendly as possible, "I'm calling on behalf of The Work Bench. Do you happen to know of a time I should maybe try and call back?"

"Oh, The Work Bench?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Why are you calling my husband? Is there something wrong?"

Again, Buffy rolled her eyes. "We were calling because our records indicate that Mister... uh.." she had to look back at the screen, "Giles recently returned a Slayer Table Saw to our store... and we just wanted to ask him a few questions about his experience."

"Oh. Rupert?" The woman called out, "Do you remember returning a saw to The Work Bench?"

Buffy rubbed her eyes, forcing herself not to make some snotty comment such as "Oh, your husband is there after all" or something.

"He remembers it."

"Great," Buffy said, hiding her annoyance, "We were hoping to ask him just a few questions..."

"What kind of questions," the wife interrupted.

"Just some standard questions we have about the product itself and with the service he received when he brought it back to the store. Things like that."

"Well..." the woman began after taking a brief pause, "I'm not sure why he brought it back but I'm sure the service was fine. Anything else?"

"Actually..."

"Thanks. You have a good day. Bye."

Buffy growled.

OoOoO

"Pet, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Buffy's eyes stared up at the ceiling. "You didn't return a Slayer Table Saw to one of our stores?"

"Nope. You have records saying I did?"

"Yes."

"When was the date?"

"That I do not have, only that you returned one. From past experience I would say probably five to six months ago though."

"Well, I don't remember buying or returning such a thing. Sorry."

Buffy sighed. "Alright. I do apologize for the inconvenience. You have have a great day."

OoOoO

"Hello!" A child's voice rang out. Loudly.

Buffy held the phone away from her ear for a moment. "Hi there. Can I please speak to..."

"Mommy! Someone's on the phone!" she heard now off in the background.

"Hello?" a woman's voice came over the other end a moment later.

"Hi, could I please speak to Holland Manners?"

"He's not home right now, could I take a message for him?"

"Well, my name is Buffy Summers. I am calling on behalf of The Work Bench. Our records indicate he returned a Table Saw to us recently and were just wanting to ask him a few questions about it."

"Holland died five years ago."

Buffy bit back the need to ask why she didn't just say that and why she asked to take a message for a dead man.

"Though... you could mean Holland Junior."

Buffy shook her head, needing to do something before she lost it. "I guess I could."

"He's not here right now."

Buffy wondered if he was in the ground, too. "Do you know a better time to try and reach him?"

OoOoO

"Hello, could I please speak to... Parker Abrams?"

"He's not here. You can tell me who you are and call back later."

"Do you know of the best time to try back?"

"Maybe. Who are you?"

She sighed. "Buffy Summers, calling on behalf of The Work Bench."

"Oh. This is him."

Buffy threw her free hand up in the air then looked at the screen. She'd already hit over to the call back page.

OoOoO

"Hello?"

"Hi there, could I please speak to... Liam... Angelus?"

"That would be me."

"Oh. Well my name is Buffy Summers and I am calling on behalf of The Work Bench... our records indicate that you recently returned a Slayer Table Saw to our store?"

"Uh... I believe so."

"And we were just wanting to ask you a few questions about your experience?" she continued to make everything sound like a question.

"Uh..." he dragged out, "Sure. How long sound this take?"

Buffy sighed to herself. "It varies. I would guess maybe twenty to twenty five minutes, though. If this is a bad time..."

"No, not at all. I'd love to help. Just... could you hold on for one quick moment?"

"Sure."

"Sorry. Just... hold on."

Buffy chucked to herself and waited.

"You still there?"

"Yes sir."

"Okay. What was your name again?"

"Buffy."

"Alright, Buffy, you're wanting to ask me about the saw I returned right? That was... a few months ago I think."

"I don't have an exact date of the return in front of me but I do believe it was a number of months ago. The questions I have are basically just asking about the product, why you purchased, what happened, did you try this or that, was anything missing.. things like that then asking about the service you received as well when you brought it back, how you were treated and all of that," she babbled.

"Alright. Sounds good. Let's go."

Buffy chuckled. Not only was he the first person willing to talk to her but he sounded excited about it.

OoOoO

Twenty minutes had long since passed and they weren't even halfway through the questions. Somewhere along the way Angel, as he told her he liked to be called, had decided to flirt with her and would often stray from what he'd answer with to some flirtacious comment or into just some story about himself which would always make her laugh. Which was pretty much flirting too she supposed. Recently, he'd also begun to slip in questions of his own, asking personal things about her. She hesitated at first but soon would answer him without giving it a second thought.

OoOoO

When Buffy began to hear some odd sounds, including the distinct sounds of doors closing, cars starting, she tried blocking his velvety voice out and tried to listen carefully to the background noise, her forehead crinkling up in confusion. "Are you on a cell phone?" she asked after a moment.

"That really one of your questions?" he asked with a laugh. "Yes, I am."

"Oh, well, geez. I'm sorry! I hadn't known. If you want you're free to go or I can call on a different number or..."

"No, you're fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked after a moment.

"Yep. Now, what's next?"

OoOoO

Buffy strained some to hear what he was saying. Wherever he was it sounded loud and busy, like he was out there beyond the door. She heard him quickly rush the end of what he was saying and wondered what was going on. Then she heard him greet someone else. "Hello," his voice said. "Can you tell me where to find Buffy?"

Buffy made a croaking noise, her eyes going as wide as they could. She kicked off from the desk, sliding across the room to peer out the window to the door. 'Oh, dear lord.' Before he could lift his eyes up to see her staring, Buffy pushed herself back away and to the desk, her heart ramming painfully against her chest.

A few seconds later there was a light knock on the door and the most handsome face she'd ever seen sticking in with a smile. "Buffy?"

"Uh... uh huh?"

His smile grew. "Angel."

"Uh huh."

He chuckled, letting the rest of him follow his head into the small room. "I should really be returning more items to this store," he told her, his eyes drinking her in slowly. "You're just as adorable as you sounded on the phone."

Buffy blushed. "You... uh... probably shouldn't be back here."

He locked the door behind him. "Probably not," he said with a shrug before walking toward her. "But what can I say? I wanted to give you an in depth valuation of what I thought of your services."

Buffy was bright red but she forced herself to look up into his amused eyes. "Is that so?"

"It is."

Buffy took a deep breath then stood. "Well, I'd hate to think of a disappointed customer."


End file.
